Optus has taken its rewards marketing in a different direction in a bid to better target the youth market. It is offering young customers tickets to an exclusive concert - provided they earn their place through community work. The partnership launched this morning at Moore Park.
Head of brand and services Nathan Rosenberg told AdNews the move was about about "people, partners, love and respect". But he added that Optus "should not be involved in anything where products and services are not part of that link up". He said that 2013 would see similar broader initiatives "not just for the youth market... With opportunities to create content that is all about doing good".
Rosenberg added that there was also further general opportunity for more content from its social media hub, or "pseudo newsroom".
Optus has partnered with volunteering organisation RockCorps, which devised the concept in New York in 2005. The firm has traditionally partnered with telcos - including Orange in the UK and France, and Sprint in the USA, because of their natural distribution channel to customers. Optus is the sole partner in Australia.
CEO Stephen Greene said the introduction to Optus had been made by M&C Saatchi.
"RockCorps helps drive brand love," he said. "But it also drives purchase and retention further than anything [clients currently] have," he said. "It is our secret, or our fourth competence," Greene told AdNews. "And at the least it gets you that second meeting [with clients]."
For the inaugural project, customers that put four hours of their time into local social projects receive a ticket to an exclusive music event. The Optus RockCorps joint venture dubs this 'Give, Get Given'. The only way customers get into the concert is through volunteering.
Greene claimed that customers enjoyed the experience so much two thirds of participants in previous campaigns had volunteered "all over again - for no reward at all".
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